Gladiator Metals has initiated an expanded drilling programme at the Best Chance and Grafter prospects within its wholly owned Whitehorse Copper Project in the Yukon Territory, Canada.
The company has mobilised a fifth drill rig to the site, aiming to accelerate exploration across a 2km-long zone known as the Arctic Chief trend, which also includes the Grafter prospect.
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The new drilling targets near-surface copper mineralisation, building on results from earlier exploration.
Historical drill intercepts at Best Chance include 15.94m at 3.19% copper in hole BCH-024 and 46.27m at 1% copper in BCH-023.
At Grafter, past drilling in hole GR-001 recorded 11.58m at 2.11% copper, including 6.19m at 3.19% copper, while GR-005 yielded 6.22m at 3.95% copper.
According to Gladiator, recent gravity and induced polarisation geophysical studies indicate that the Arctic Chief trend may contain a larger, interconnected mineralised system than previously thought.
It intends to test the continuity of copper mineralisation along this corridor, which links the Best Chance, Arctic Chief and Grafter occurrences.
The fifth drill rig forms part of Gladiator’s wider 2026–27 exploration strategy, supported by a planned budget of more than $28.4m (C$40m).
Gladiator said that more than 100,000m of drilling is scheduled across the project during this period, with more than 50,000m focused on high-priority targets in 2026.
The expanded drilling effort also includes the Cowley and Cub Trend prospects within the Whitehorse Copper Belt.
Gladiator CEO Jason Bontempo said: “Best Chance-Grafter have the potential to become the third near-term resource opportunity within the Whitehorse Copper Project.
“Broad, shallow copper intercepts from initial drilling by Gladiator in 2024 and 2025 returned 77.25m at 0.70% copper from just 2.75m in ACG-009, underscoring the scale and grade potential of a compelling mineralised system along the Arctic Chief Trend.”
The Whitehorse Copper Project covers a 35km × 5km area near Whitehorse City. Copper mineralisation in this region was first identified in 1897.
Gladiator Metals aims to deliver a maiden NI 43-101-compliant resource for the Cowley prospect in 2027 following further delineation drilling.
Key institutional investors in the company are BlackRock, Macquarie Bank, Dynamic, Mackenzie and Orimco.
